Server-Side Caching for Web User Interfaces

ABSTRACT

The described technology relates to rendering a client-side user interface using a server-side cache for providing the displayed data. In an example implementation, in response to a user interface (e.g., dashboard with multiple widgets in a web application) being launched on the client device, the server initiates a refresh of the cache for the widgets; and transmits a first set of data obtained from the cache for widgets in the user interface before the cache is updated in response to the initiated refresh. The first set of data is followed by a second set of data obtained from the cache for at least some of the widgets after the cache is updated in response to the initiated refresh. The client displays the user interface using the second set of data while overwriting, for one or more of the widgets, information previously displayed using the first set of data.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/859,359 filed Apr. 27, 2020 which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/400,169 filed May 1, 2019, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/220,522 filed Jul.27, 2016, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,320,941 issued Jun. 11, 2019, whichclaims the benefit of priority of the Indian Patent Application No.2346/DEL/2015 filed on Jul. 30, 2015, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

Many enterprise software applications are designed as web-basedapplications (“web applications”) so that they can be accessed fromanywhere and/or using almost any processing device that can run a webbrowser. A web application comprises client-side components andserver-side components that communicate with each other using protocolsincluding the HTTP protocol. Client-side components of a web applicationare typically responsible for handling the user interface by presenting(e.g., displaying) information to the user through a user interface onthe user's access device; receiving user input, etc. Server-sidecomponents are responsible for tasks including either itself generatingor obtaining information from data sources to be presented to the userin accordance with received inputs.

As the complexity of underlying web applications grow, the volume ofdata transmitted to the client-side components from the server-sidecomponents increases. Moreover, as the number of users and/or thefrequency with which the application are accessed increases, theprocessing load on the servers may increase. Increases in the volume ofdata transmitted from servers to client devices, server delays due, forexample, to processing load and/or latencies associated with networkaccess to remote data sources, may often result in users of webapplications having to endure long response times.

Various techniques including caching of rendered data so that the samedata can be quickly displayed the next time the user interface isbrought up, are used to improve the user experience and/or theperformance of the user interface. Further improvements to thesetechnologies are desirable to enhance web applications by improving boththe accuracy and the performance of dashboards.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightswhatsoever.

SUMMARY

An example embodiment provides a system comprising a server deviceincluding a cache, and a client device. The cache is configured tostore, for each of a plurality of users, data for a plurality of widgetsthat are displayable on a user interface provided by a web applicationon the client-device. The server device is configured to: responsive tothe user interface being launched on the client device, initiate arefresh of the cache for one or more of the plurality of widgets; andtransmit, to the client device, a first set of data obtained from thecache for one or more of the widgets before the cache is updated inresponse to the initiated refresh, followed by a second set of dataobtained from the cache for at least some of the one or more widgetsafter the cache is updated in response to the initiated refresh. Theclient device is configured to receive a request to display a userinterface provided by a web application, the user interface beingconfigured to have a plurality of widgets arranged thereon; receive, inresponse to a first data request transmitted to the server device afterreceiving the request to display the user interface, the first set ofdata; receiving, in response to a second data request transmitted to theserver device after the first data request, the second set of data; anddisplaying the user interface on the display device using the second setof data, wherein the displaying includes overwriting, for one or more ofthe widgets, information previously displayed using the first set ofdata.

The client device may be configured to perform further operationscomprising repeatedly transmitting data requests for at least one of thewidgets for which last returned data is from the cache before the cacheis updated for the at least one widget.

The initiating a refresh of the cache may comprise asynchronouslyperforming the refresh.

The server device may be configured to perform further operationsincluding: in response to receiving a data request from the client,determining whether a number of repeated data requests exceeds aconfigured threshold; when the repeated data requests exceeds thethreshold, directly access a data source to obtain data; and returnobtained data to the client device.

The user interface may include a dashboard having a plurality of widgetsarranged thereon.

The client device may be configured to transmit each data request withan included indication of a retry number, and the server device may beconfigured to perform different actions for respective values of theretry numbers associated with each data request.

The server device may be configured to perform further operationsincluding: when initiating the refresh, setting at least one flagindicating a status of data for a widget in the cache; in response toreceiving a data request having a retry number corresponding to apredetermined retry number, (1) if the at least one flag is not set,initiate a refresh of the cache and set the at least one flag; and (2)if the at least one flag is set, return data from the cache to theclient device.

The server device may be further configured to initiate an asynchronousrefresh of the cache in response to receiving a data request with afirst retry number, and to initiate a synchronous update of the cache inresponse to receiving a data request with a second retry number, thefirst and second retry numbers being different.

The client device may be configured to perform further operationsincluding: monitoring cache expiration times for a plurality of widgetsarranged on the user interface; based upon the monitoring, determiningan expiration of cached data for a first one of the widgets; and causinga refresh of data in the cache for the first one of the widgets.

The server device may be configured to perform further operations:storing a respective update timer for each of a plurality of widgets;monitoring the update timers; and when an update of a widget comes due,requesting an update.

Another embodiment provides a server device comprising a memoryconfigured for a cache. The server device is configured to performoperations comprising: configuring the cache to store, for each of aplurality of users, data for a plurality of widgets that are displayableon a user interface provided by a web application; responsive to theuser interface being launched on a client device, initiating a refreshof the cache for one or more of the plurality of widgets; andtransmitting, to the client device, a first set of data obtained fromthe cache for one or more of the widgets before the cache is updated inresponse to the initiated refresh, followed by a second set of dataobtained from the cache for at least some of the one or more widgetsafter the cache is updated in response to the initiated refresh.

Another embodiment provides a client device comprising a display device,a network communication interface configured to communicate with aserver device. The server device is configured to perform operationscomprising: receiving a request to display a user interface of a webapplication, the user interface being configured to have a plurality ofwidgets arranged thereon; receiving, in response to a first data requesttransmitted to the server device after receiving the request to displaythe user interface, a first set of data; receiving, in response to asecond data request transmitted to the server device after the firstdata request, a second set of data; and displaying the user interface onthe display device using the second set of data, wherein the displayingincludes overwriting, for one or more of the widgets, informationpreviously displayed using the first set of data. The first set of datamay be obtained from a cache for one or more of the widgets before thecache is updated by a refresh of the cache initiated in response to theuser interface being launched on the client device, and wherein thesecond set of data may be obtained from the cache after the cache isupdated by the initiated refresh.

Another example embodiment provides a method comprising: configuring acache to store in a memory of a computer, for each of a plurality ofusers, data for a plurality of widgets that are displayable on a userinterface provided by a web application; responsive to the userinterface being launched on a client device, initiating a refresh of thecache for one or more of the plurality of widgets; and transmitting, tothe client device, a first set of data obtained from the cache for oneor more of the widgets before the cache is updated in response to theinitiated refresh, followed by a second set of data obtained from thecache for at least some of the one or more widgets after the cache isupdated in response to the initiated refresh.

Another embodiment provides a non-transitory computer readable storagemedium storing instructions of a web application, which, when executedby a computer, causes the computer to perform operations. The operationscomprise: configuring a cache in the memory of the computer to store,for each of a plurality of users, data for a plurality of widgets thatare displayable on a user interface provided by the web application;responsive to the user interface being launched on a client device,initiating a refresh of the cache for one or more of the plurality ofwidgets; and transmitting, to the client device, a first set of dataobtained from the cache for one or more of the widgets before the cacheis updated in response to the initiated refresh, followed by a secondset of data obtained from the cache for at least some of the one or morewidgets after the cache is updated in response to the initiated refresh.

Another example embodiment provides a non-transitory computer readablestorage medium storing instructions of a web application which, whenexecuted by a computer, causes the computer to perform operationscomprising: receiving a request to display a user interface of the webapplication, the user interface being configured to have a plurality ofwidgets arranged thereon; receiving, in response to a first data requesttransmitted to the server device after receiving the request to displaythe user interface, a first set of data; receiving, in response to asecond data request transmitted to the server device after the firstdata request, a second set of data; and displaying the user interface onthe display device using the second set of data, wherein the displayingincludes overwriting, for one or more of the widgets, informationpreviously displayed using the first set of data. The first set of datamay be obtained from a cache before the cache is updated for one or moreof the widgets by a refresh of the cache initiated in response to theuser interface being launched on the client device, and wherein thesecond set of data is obtained from the cache after the cache is updatedby the initiated refresh.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is intended neither to identify key featuresor essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor to be used tolimit the scope of the claimed subject matter; rather, this Summary isintended to provide an overview of the subject matter described in thisdocument. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the above-describedfeatures are merely examples, and that other features, aspects, andadvantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparentfrom the following Detailed Description, Figures, and Claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a dashboard of the exemplary web-based applicationaccording to some embodiments;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example computing environment in which a clientsystem and a server system communicate with each other over a network toenable a user to use a web application, such as, for example, theapplication in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 (3A and 3B) illustrates a flowchart of a process for renderinginformation using a server-side cache, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of process for refreshing the server-sidecache according to some embodiments;

FIG. 5 illustrates a part of an example XML configuration file that canbe used for configuring a displayed user interface such as a dashboard,according to some embodiments;

FIG. 6 illustrates an XML file for an example user interface layoutconfiguration according to some embodiments;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example database schema that can be used forimplementing the server-side cache, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 8 schematically illustrates a part of an example framework ofsoftware elements that may be used in some embodiments;

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of the interface class according to someembodiments; and

FIG. 10 shows an example block diagram of a hardware architecture forthe system shown in FIG. 2 according to some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The embodiments described herein relate to rendering a client-side userinterface, such as, for example, display of a web page, using aserver-side cache for providing the displayed data. Some exampleembodiments relate to an investor relations web application (“IRapplication”), but embodiments are not limited thereto. The use of aserver-side cache in accordance with embodiments can significantlyimprove the performance and the scalability of web applications incomparison to conventional techniques for web page rendering. Theperformance improvements become even more significant when renderingincludes concurrently updating the display with information receivedfrom multiple data sources.

Example embodiments provide for refreshing a server-side cacheasynchronously in the background, and rendering the client-side userinterface using cached information. Refreshing the cache, as usedherein, refers to updating the cache by retrieving data from acorresponding data source and either newly storing the retrieved data inthe cache or replacing current corresponding data in the cache with thenewly retrieved data. Upon receiving a request from the client, theserver may return already cached data, even if such data may not be upto date, while the cache is being asynchronously refreshed in thebackground. By this, the client's display can be speedily updated withat least some data which is likely to be relevant to the user, althoughnot necessarily the most up to date. Subsequently, typically within ashort time interval after the initial display, the display is updatedwith up to date information when the cache is refreshed. The ability toquickly (e.g., almost immediately) have at least some relevantinformation displayed upon the launching of a certain application can beparticularly useful for frequent users of dashboard type userinterfaces. Since it may not be essential that some types of informationon a dashboard is fully up to date all the time, users who navigate toand away from a dashboard very frequently may find it preferable thatsome relevant information is displayed within a short response time tobe subsequently updated with most current information.

A dashboard, as used herein, is a type of user interface that is usedfor effectively presenting information to a user, e.g., it organizes andpresents information in a way that is easy to read. A dashboard mayinclude several subcomponents, with each subcomponent being used todisplay pieces of information that are respectively different and/or areobtained from different data sources. FIG. 1 illustrates a dashboard 100of the exemplary IR application according to some embodiments. Dashboard100 displays, on one page, multiple types of information from differentdata sources, that an investment advisor may find useful whileconsulting with a potential investor. The dashboard 100 is contentintensive and aggregates content from many sources.

Dashboard 100 includes components 102-110 each of which may be a widgetconfigured to receive and display information that are from differentsources. A widget, as the term is used herein, is an application, or acomponent of an interface, that enables a user to perform a function oraccess a service. At least some of widgets 102-110 may be designed to,after being initially displayed on the user's screen, to continuallyhave its content updated while they remains visible on the user'sscreen.

Widget 102 may be configured to receive and display information relatedto financial performance of peers of a particular investor. This mayprovide, for each investment position, pricing, quantity, and change invalue information. Some of the information may be updated at the datasource continuously or near real-time (e.g., pricing, volumes etc.).Indications as to whether additional information such as researchreports, estimates and the like are available for each peer may also beprovided, and may either be updated dynamically or periodically. Widget104 may display more detailed information about a particular investmentposition. For example, as shown, a real-time or near real-time chart ofthe value of a selected investment from 102 may be shown in widget 104.Widget 106 may display information regarding contacts related to theparticular investor. Widget 108 may display highlights relevant to theparticular investor. Widget 110 may present a summary of feedback.

At least some of the widgets 102-110 rely on data obtained from externalsources, and some widgets may present information derived frominformation received from internal sources. For example, investmentposition prices etc., may be received from a first external subscriptionservice, whereas updates regarding estimates, research reports etc. maybe obtained from a second subscription service. Updates regardingmessages, investment highlights etc., may be obtained from theenterprise's (i.e., the enterprise deploying the web application for itsusers) own servers. Embodiments operate to alleviate the performance andscalability issues that can be caused due to the different types (e.g.,different formats, sizes, etc.), different update requirements (e.g.,continuous or near continuous updates, interval updates, scheduledupdates, etc.), and/or the different sources (e.g., local sources,external sources with different network access latencies) from which thewidgets obtain the data for display.

Thus, dashboard 100 may simultaneously display these multiple widgetsthat receive their information from different sources so that a summaryof the relevant information can be presented to the user. Dashboard 100may be rendered on the display of a user device as the “landing page”when a user launches the example IR application. For some applications,such as the example IR application, rather than wait for all updatedinformation to be rendered and incurring long response times, a user mayfind it preferable to quickly have some relevant information with whichhe/or she can begin using the application initially displayed, while upto date information is obtained after a short delay.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example computing environment 200 in which aclient system 202 and a server system 204 communicate with each otherover a network 208 to enable the use of a web application, such as, forexample, the IR application noted above. It should be appreciated thatthe network 208 can comprise a network of interconnected computingdevices, such as the Internet. The network 208 can also comprise a localarea network (LAN) and/or include a peer-to-peer connection between theclient system 202 and the server system 204.

The web application includes a client-side web application component(“client-side application”) 210 that is executed on the client system202 and a server-side web application component (“server-sideapplication”) 212 that is executed on the server system 204. Theclient-side application 210 may be executed within a user interfaceapplication 214 such as, for example, a browser 214. The server-sideapplication 212 may be executed by a web server 216 and/or applicationserver 218 of server system 204. Web server 216 performs functionalitysuch as implementing the HTTP protocol and communicating with the webbrowser 214 (described in further detail below) in the client system 210via HTTP. Data items relating to the web application, such as, forexample, configuration and/or performance data, user access, etc., maybe stored in a database 220 of the server system 204. Application server218 can, for example, execute server-side (or “backend”) applicationservices. In performing the web application, the web server 216 and/orthe application server 218 may access one or more external data sources222 over network 208 in order to obtain information.

The server-side application 212 may make use of a cache 224 and a jobprocess 226 to cache information, such as information obtained from datasources 222 and/or information generated in the server system 204, andto provide information from the cache 224 to the client system 202. Theserver-side application 212 may make use of a queue 225 so that jobprocess 226 can asynchronously refresh the cache 224 upon request by theserver-side application. The client system 202 may, for example, providethe information received from the server-side application 212 to theuser via a dashboard 228 or other web page.

The client system 202 can include software components for performingprocessing related to applications defined according to the multiplesingle page application (SPA) or other architecture. As a non-limitingexample, the client system 202 may have a web browser application 214consisting of, at least, a rendering module, a networking module and aJavaScript® module (not shown separately). The rendering module canimplement functionality for the graphical display and rendering of webpages. It can, for example, generate graphical data that corresponds tothe HTML and/or DOM that defines a web page processed by the web browser214; this graphical data can, potentially after furthermodification/transformation by the operating system of the client system202, be displayed on a display of the client system 202. Alternativelyor additionally, whenever it is described in this document that theclient system 202 renders/displays a web page, the rendering/displayingmodule may perform functionality related to the rendering/display of theweb page. The networking module can implement the HTTP protocol, and beused to handle various HTTP messages between the client system 202 andthe web server 216 in the server system 204. Alternatively oradditionally, whenever it is described in this document that the clientsystem 202 communicates using HTTP, the networking module may handle theHTTP aspects of such communications. The JavaScript module can be usedto execute JavaScript scripts, manipulate JavaScript objects, modify theDOMs of web pages loaded at the web browser application 211, and performother functionality related to JavaScript. The JavaScript module may be,for example, a JavaScript engine, a JavaScript virtual machine, aJavaScript runtime, or any other type of software module capable ofexecuting JavaScript instructions. Alternatively or additionally,whenever it is described in this document that the client system 202performs functionality related to JavaScript, such functionality may behandled by the JavaScript module.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of a process 300 for rendering a clientuser interface information using a server-side cache (e.g., cache 224),according to some embodiments. The flowchart illustrates interactionsbetween a client-side application 302, such as, a web applicationincluding a dashboard 100, and server-side application 304, such as, aportion of the web application that includes server-side caching ofwidgets of dashboard 100. In the description below, the messagesexchanged between the client side application 302, which, at least insome embodiments execute inside (in the context of) a web browser, andthe server-side application 304 include messages in accordance with theHTTP protocol.

Process 300 may be entered when the user launches the web applicationand/or arrives at a particular web page. For example, when the userlaunches the example IR application, process 300 may be entered into andthe displaying of dashboard 100 as the “landing page” may be started.Client-side application module(s) 210 may be downloaded to the userdevice from the server system 204. An AngularJS® module may be used tohelp load the dashboard AngularJS app based on components defined indashboard configuration files (e.g. FIGS. 5 and 6). The server may benotified of the launching of the dashboard (or launching of a webapplication which has the dashboard as the landing page) by amodel-view-controller (MVC) action from the client (e.g., page load HTTPrequest) at operation 312. In response, the server may initiate severalactions 314. The server may, at operation 315, return client-sideapplication modules 210 to the client-side application so that the webapplication can be run.

The process of receiving an HTTP request for a web page from a clientand downloading of HTML, JavaScript, and AngularJS components to theclient for rendering the page on the client and/or to launch anapplication is described in the co-pending commonly-assigned applicationentitled “Software Application Framework,” U.S. Ser. No. 15/219,913 andfiled on Jul. 26, 2016, which is hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety. The downloaded client-side application module(s) 210 may, inthe context of the browser 214, begin the display of dashboard 100.Alternatively, a process for displaying dashboard 100 may be begun when,after having previously started the web application, the user returns toa web page that again displays dashboard 100. Although exampleembodiments are described in relation to a client browser context, theembodiments may be utilized with any client application thatcommunicates with a server using HTTP. In some example embodiments, theclient-side application communicates with the server-side applicationusing HTTP and JSON.

The server includes a cache (e.g., cache 224) for storing data forwidgets that are displayable on the dashboard. The cache may include anentry for every widget that is displayable by a particular dashboard, asspecified in a configuration file for the particular dashboard. Thecache may be initially configured or created in a memory of the server(e.g., a memory in the server system 204) when the web application islaunched, and may persist throughout the duration that the webapplication (e.g., as determined, for example, by the user remaininglogged in) even when the user navigates away from the dashboard.Alternatively, even while the web application is active, the cache maybe deleted after a predetermined period of time has passed without theuser navigating back to the dashboard. As described below in relation toFIG. 4, the cache is refreshed at intervals for widgets that are activein the dashboard.

When the server is notified of the launching of the dashboard 100, theserver may, at operation 316, add a request to refresh the cache to aqueue 306. The server may request refresh of the data for all widgetsconfigured for a selected layout (e.g., as specified in a configurationfile) of the dashboard.

Job process 308 periodically polls the queue 306 for the presence ofrefresh requests. The job process 308 may be configured to check thequeue at a predetermined interval. In some embodiments, the refreshrequest queue 306 may be a MSMQ™ (Microsoft Message Queuing) queue, andthe job process 308 may be a Windows Service™ job. The MSMQ queue may bedefined as a private queue in some embodiments when the correspondingprocess that monitors the queue (e.g., the job process 308) is on thesame server as the queue. However, some embodiments may instead and/orin addition use public MSMQ queues for refresh requests when the actualjob processors (e.g., such as job processor 308) are distributed overseveral physical machines in the server system. In some embodiments thequeue for refresh requests 306 is serviced according to a first in firstout manner—such that the older requests are serviced before the newerrequests. However, embodiments are not limited thereto, and otherembodiments may implement other queue servicing techniques. For example,some queue servicing techniques may include servicing requests for (orrequests that include) certain widgets at a higher priority thanrequests for other widgets. MSMQ and Windows Service technologies can beused in embodiments to distribute the load associated with servicing theuser interfaces among any number of servers by, for example, having arespective MSMQ and a respective job process for each server in a serversystem operating as part of the backend for the IR Application. Thecombination of MSMQ for queuing refresh requests and Windows Service forjob process 308 enables refreshing the cache without impacting responsetimes and/or increasing the load on web servers.

At operation 317, the server sets one or more flags (referred to as“stale flag”) for each of the widgets indicating that a refresh has beeninitiated (and that the cached data for the corresponding widget isconsidered stale). That is, for each of the widgets for which cacherefresh was requested at operation 316, at least one stale flag is set.Each stale flag may be a bit, which is sufficient to indicate whetherthe data of the corresponding widget is stale or not. In someembodiments, however, some stale flags may at least be two bits so thatthree states can be represented—a state representing that thecorresponding data is considered stale, a state representing that thecorresponding data is partially refreshed (e.g., for use when a widgetincludes data being refreshed from separate data sources), and a staterepresenting that the corresponding data is refreshed.

At operation 318, the client-side application 302 requests, using anHTTP message, the widget data from the server-side application 304.Operation 318 may include a separate request being made for each widget,a request per group of widgets, or one request for all widgets. In someembodiments, the client-side AngularJS framework may load the widgetsinto containers based on dashboard configuration (e.g., FIGS. 5 and 6)and request data for the widgets. Once the data for widgets are returnedfrom server, the client framework has the information with respect towhere to place the rendered html for each widget. The container may be aplaceholder html element with an identifier that can be derived from thewidget identifier in response data.

The request may include parameters indicating that this is the firstrequest for widget data. The request may also identify widgets for whichdata is requested. The first request for widget data may be madeimmediately after the page is rendered on the client.

The server-side application 304, in response, checks the cache (e.g.,cache 224) at operation 319. In some embodiments, the cache may beconfigured to store widget data on a per user and per widget basis. Forexample, cache 224 may separately store data for widget A as displayedby user X, and widget A as displayed by user Y. In some embodiments, thecache may store the data on the basis of per user per user device andper widget basis, so that the same user can have sessions on multipleactive devices. For example, cache 224 may separately store data forwidget A as displayed on user device P by user X, and widget A asdisplayed on user device Q by user X.

After, based upon the check at operation 319 to determine whether thewidget data is in the cache, any widget data found in the cache isreturned to the client-side application at operation 321. The widgetdata may be returned using at HTTP response to the HTTP request receivedat operation 318. The data in cache may be binary serialized, and needsto be converted to a format which the client-side rendering technologycan understand. JSON is a standard that most client side technologiesuse for data transfer. So, in some example embodiments, the binaryserialized data in the cache is converted to its equivalent JSON formatbefore returning the response.

In many, or most, situations what is returned to the server at operation321 would include stale data because the time elapsed between when therequest to refresh is made and when the corresponding widget data issent to the user may not be sufficient for receiving data from many ofthe data sources such that the corresponding cache can be refreshed. Forexample, the elapsed time may be too short for the job process 308 toaccess one or more external data sources due to network latencies etc.In some situations, one or more widgets' data may be refreshed withinthe elapsed time, while others remain stale.

In some embodiments, one or more widgets may include data from more thanone source. In such cases, stale flags may be specified for each groupof information obtained from a different source. The stale flag for thewidget is set to indicate refreshed only when the flags for all groupsin that widget indicate refreshed. When the stale flag for the widget isset (e.g., to indicate need refresh), stale flags for each of the groupswithin the widget are also set.

At operation 322, the client-side application renders the dashboardusing widget data received from the server-side application. Thereturned data may specify, for each widget, whether the data has beenrefreshed or not. In some example embodiments, this information ispassed as an additional parameter in the response for each widget (e.g.,IsStale flag).

The information whether data for each widget is refreshed or not may beuseful in generating data request (e.g., retry data requests) only forwidgets that do not currently have refreshed data. During the renderingof the dashboard, the information as to whether each widget hasrefreshed data or stale data, may be used to visually distinguish therefreshed information from the stale (e.g., considered as potentiallystale because the corresponding cache entry is indicated as such)information being displayed in the dashboard.

Some embodiments may display stale information in one or morepredetermined formats (e.g., text/background colors, text styles, etc.)or other technique enabling the user to easily distinguish potentiallystale information from refreshed information. Some embodiments may allowconfiguration settings specifying only certain of the widgets eligiblefor displaying cached data, and the rendering may display the dashboardwhile displaying only those widgets configured for caching with initialdata received from a cache, and others of the widgets with no datavalues.

At operation 323, the job process 308 is invoked in accordance with apredetermined interval. The interval at which the job process 308 checksthe queue may be configurable (e.g., 5 seconds). The time interval mayat least partly determine how responsive the cache refresh andsubsequent rendering is. However, too frequent checking of the MSMQqueue may unnecessarily increase processing load. The job process 308repeatedly checks, at operation 324, whether any requests for cacherefresh are pending. The checking may be performed on a MSMQ queue, asdescribed above, which is used by the server-side application to enqueuecache refresh requests. If the job process 308 finds a request for cacherefresh (e.g., “yes” at operation 324), at operation 325, job process308 requests one or more data sources 310 for data. The configuration ofeach widget may identify the data source for its data. The request atoperation 325 may be either for all the widgets of the dashboard or onlyfor those identified as still having stale data. The data source 310,upon receiving the request, obtains the requested information atoperation 326, and, if any data is found, that is sent at operation 327to the job 308. In some other embodiments, job process may directlyretrieve the information from the data source 310. When it has therequested information, the job process 308, at operation 328, refreshesthe cache at the server-side application 304. The job process 308 mayalso update the stale flags to reflect the cache refresh.

As the cached data for each widget is refreshed from the data sources,the corresponding stale flag (or flags) is unset (i.e. to indicate thatthe corresponding cache has been refreshed or is currently beingrefreshed). The unsetting of the stale flags may be performed by the jobprocess.

The client-side application 302 may continue retrying to obtain data forwhich it still has not received data from the cache. Thus, at operation329 a first retry is made for one or more widgets for which no data hasyet been received from the cache. The intervals between retries and thenumber of retries may be configurable. The retry request may indicatethat it is the second request. The retry request may also identify eachwidget for which it still needs refreshed data.

Upon receiving the first retry request, the server-side application, atoperation 330, may recognize that the cache includes refreshedinformation for one or more widgets (i.e., due to the refresh atoperation 328). Accordingly, if there are refreshed data for any widgetsrequested in operation 329, then at least the data for those widgets isreturned at operation 331. In some embodiments, when a response to theclient-side application includes data for widgets for which the cachehas been refreshed and data for widgets for which the cache is not yetrefreshed, the status of the returned data for each widget as to whetherthe data is stale may be identifiable based upon a value included foreach widget

Upon receiving a reply from the server-side application, the client-sideapplication, at operation 332, renders the dashboard with the receivedinformation including any refreshed data. Similar to operation 322, therendering may indicate refreshed widgets in a manner distinguishablefrom potentially stale widgets.

In the illustrated scenario, one or more widgets still remain to receiverefreshed information after operation 331. At operation 333, anotherretry data request is made. The data request message indicates the retrynumber and the particular widgets sought to be refreshed. In response,the server-side application at 334 recognizes that more than apredetermined number of retry attempts have been made for obtaining datafor dashboard 100. It therefore, at operation 335, requests the requireddata without a cache refresh request. The request may be directly madeto the appropriate data sources. The direct access to the data source,bypassing the queue, improves the responsiveness and robustness of thedashboard by having a second technique for obtaining the data in theevent that the queue becomes backlogged.

The data source, at operation 336, finds the requested data, and atoperation 337, the requested data is returned to the server-sideapplication which refreshes the cache with the received data. Atoperation 338, the server-side application returns the refreshed datafrom the cache to the client-side application. The cache refresh by theserver-side application by directly accessing the data source may beconsidered a synchronous refresh of the cache (in contrast to theasynchronous refresh performed by queuing a refresh request).

At operation 339, one or more stale flags are updated to represent thecache refresh completed.

At operation 340, client-side application renders the dashboard withinformation including any updated information.

If information from the cache (e.g. cache 224) has been received for allwidgets currently displayed on the dashboard, then the client-sideapplication has completed the display. If any of the widgets stillremain with potentially stale information, the retrying may continue fora predetermined number of operations.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of process 400 for refreshing theserver-side cache (e.g., cache 224) according to some embodiments. Theflowchart illustrates interactions between client-side web application402 and the server-side web application 404 leading to a cache refreshrequest being sent to queue 406. The cache refresh process andclient-side rendering process thereafter is the same as, or is similarto, the process described in relation to FIG. 3.

At operation 412, the client-side application 402 receives, along withdata from the cache for one or more widgets, the expiry times for thoseone or more widgets. The expiry times for each widget in the cache arecontinually (e.g., at predetermined intervals) updated by theserver-side application or other process. The expiry times may bemaintained in the server as time (e.g., in seconds) remaining before thecache entry expires (i.e., before refresh is desired).

On the client, the expiry times received from the server may bemaintained in an array or other data structure in which multiple valuescan be periodically (e.g., triggered by a periodic timer) updated. Atoperation 414, the client-side application updates the array or otherstructure to include the received updated expiry times. The array mayrepresent the refresh time for each of the widgets displayed on thedashboard. The time left before refresh for each of the widgets asindicated by the server-side application may be used to update theremaining time before refresh for widgets in the client's array.

At operation 416, based upon signal from a timer which expires atpredetermined intervals, the remaining times for each of the widgets inthe array are decremented by a predetermined amount. For example, if thetimer is configured to fire in 5-second intervals, the amount ofdecrement at each expiration may be set to 5 seconds.

At operation 418, it is determined whether there are any widgets in thearray for which the remaining time is less than or equal to 0 (or otherpredetermined low value indicating a very short time before requiring arefresh).

At operation 420, the client-side application requests data for each ofthe widgets identified as requiring data refresh. The request atoperation 420 may indicate that it is a first request for refresh.

At operation 422, having received the request for data, and havingrecognized that it is a first request for data for the widget, theserver-side application may set the stale flag corresponding to thatwidget to indicate that a refresh has been requested.

At operation 424, the server-side application enqueues a request forcache refresh for that widget to an MSMQ queue. At operation 426, datathat is currently in the cache is returned to the requesting client-sideapplication.

If the stale flag is already set when this first request for data isreceived at 424, then it indicates that a refresh request is alreadyactive for this widget, and therefore no refresh request will be queuedin operation 424.

The subsequent client-side and server-side processing may be the same orsimilar to that described in relation to FIG. 3 after a request forcache refresh is enqueued and the corresponding stale flag is set toindicate a refresh has been requested. For example, a job process can,based on the queued request, obtain data from a data source andappropriately refresh the cache. If the cache is successfully refreshedthe corresponding stale flag is reset by the job process to indicatethat the cache contains up to date data for the widget. In the eventthat the cache is not refreshed by the time the server receives acertain number of retries from the client, the server directly accessthe data source to obtain the data and refresh the cache. The refresheddata is obtained by the client upon its next request retry.

FIG. 5 illustrates a part of an example XML configuration file 500 thatcan be used for configuring a displayed user interface such as adashboard. The configuration file 500 can specify configuration data foreach widget of a plurality of widgets (e.g., 502 and 503 forresearchWidget and estimatesWidget, respectively), and details for eachof the providers supplying data for the widgets (e.g., 504 and 505 forthe data provider for the researchWidget and the data provider for theestimatesWidget, respectively).

For each widget, the configuration file may specify an identifier (e.g.,506) that uniquely identifies the widget, an indication whether thewidget is cacheable (e.g., 510), a refresh interval (e.g., 512)indicating the frequency of refresh for the widget, and anidentification of the provider (e.g., 514) for the data for the widget.The identifier for each widget may be used to identify the widget inrequests for widget data, in response providing widget data, indexingthe cache (e.g., cache 224) etc. The server-side application may cacheonly those widgets which are configured to be cacheable. For any widgetthat is not indicated as cacheable in the configuration file, its datamay not be cached at the server. The refresh interval is specified perwidget, and the server can use this configuration value to set therespective cache refresh timers. The configuration for a widget may alsospecify whether the data for the widget is to be refreshed upon acontext change (e.g., 516). An example context change may occur when, inthe “peer activity” widget illustrated in FIG. 1, the currently selectedinvestment position is changed by the user. Upon such a change, theserver may refer to the configuration setting for the “peer activity”widget to determine whether it requires to be refreshed on a contextchange.

Whereas the configuration for each widget can specify a provider name,details for each provider (e.g., address for obtaining data etc.) areprovided in a separate section of the configuration file.

FIG. 6 illustrates an XML file 600 for an example user interface layoutconfiguration according to some embodiments. The file 600 specifies twolayouts 602 and 604. Layout 602 is configured to arrange three widgetson the dashboard, and layout 604 is configured to arrange ten widgets.Different layouts may be specified for each type of user device and/oras a default layout. The layout configuration may specify a positionconfiguration for each widget. The position configuration for eachwidget may be used by the framework which renders the user interface toload the widget into the container corresponding to that positionidentifier. The configuration shown in file 600 is an example only, andit should be appreciated that the configuration file may have any numberof layouts each having the same or different sets of widgets arranged indifferent patterns.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example database schema 700 that can be used forthe server-side cache (e.g., cache 224), according to some embodiments.Each cache entry may have a unique identifier 702, and may identify thewidget (i.e. WidgetId 704) and the user (i.e. userId 706) to which thecorresponding cached data relates to. The data (i.e., value 708) may bespecified in the schema as a variable length binary data in order tooffer flexibly caching different types of data.

Each cache entry may also specify an expiry time (i.e. expiry 710) and alast refreshed time (i.e., LastUpdated 712) indicating when the cacheentry was last refreshed. The expiry time may be updated upon each cacherefresh to represent the next time at which it should be refreshed. Forexample, the next expiry time can be determined based upon the time of acurrent refresh and the refresh interval from the configuration.

The updatedByUI 714 flag represents whether the user interface requiresrefreshed data for the widget. This indicates whether the data in cachewas refreshed by the web server application rather than the job process.A large number of cache items with this flag set to true may indicatethat the job is either not healthy or not able to handle the load on thequeue.

The layoutId 716 identifies a layout for the display of this widget onthe user interface. For example, the layoutID 716 may specify one of thelayouts defined in the dashboard configuration file. ViewTypeId 718specifies a type of display for the widget. The type of view for thewidget may be considered when the data from the sources need to betranslated before being displayed on the dashboard. LayoutId 716 may behelpful in retrieving the cache data for all widgets in a particulardashboard easily without having to match all the widget identifiers forthat dashboard. This is mainly a performance improvement factor.ViewTypeId 718 may be used when a widget can show data based on somecriteria which can be switched by the user. At any time, the user seesonly data for one criteria. This field may be helpful in filtering databased on the currently selected criteria. Key 720 may be a field used tostore a dynamic key based on which widget data need to be retrieved.

FIG. 8 schematically illustrates a part of an example framework 800 thatmay be used in some embodiments. The framework 800 may illustrate, forexample, aspects of the server-side cache (e.g., cache 224). Theserver-side cache may comprise a plurality of objects of WidgetCache 802class. For example, the server-side cache may include a plurality ofobjects corresponding to class 802. WidgetCache 802 may be defined as ageneric cache type, and may store the data received from the datasources in binary serialized form.

The server-side application may rely upon a WidgetDataHelper class 804to maintain the cache and to provide the clients with requested dataaccording to embodiments. WidgetDataHelper class 804 may rely upon adata provider class specified for each type of widget. The class 804 mayprovide for identifying displayable widgets based on configurations andentitlements, etc., retrieving cached data for all widgets, retrievingpreferences for all widgets, invoking the appropriate method on dataproviders based upon type of request received from the client,facilitating save data to cache, facilitating saving preferences for awidget, etc. For example, data for display in widgets of ResearchWidgettype may be obtained by the WidgetDataHelper class 802 calling aResearchWidgetProvider class 806. ResearchWidgetProvider class 806 canbe responsible for accessing its data provider. Because the cachedinformation is in binary serial format, ReasearchWidgetDataProviderclass 806 may also provide for translating/converting the data frombinary serialized form to a different format as required by theparticular widget.

ResearchWidgetDataProvider class 806 may inherit from aWidgetProviderBase class 808, which in turns implements an interfaceclass IWidgetDataProvider 810. A factory class WidgetDataProviderFactory812 can be used to generate the respective data provider objects foreach type of widget.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of the IwidgetDataProvider 810 interface.The interface specifies two methods: a GetData with the current widgetsetting and layout type as parameters, and a GetData with the cacheddata as parameters. The appropriate GetData method is called dependingon whether cached data is available or needs to be fetched from theactual source.

FIG. 10 shows an example block diagram of a hardware architecture forthe system 200 according to some embodiments. The client system 1010communicates with a server system 1000 via a network 1040. The network1040 could comprise a network of interconnected computing devices, suchas the internet. The network 1040 could also comprise a local areanetwork (LAN) or could comprise a peer-to-peer connection between theclient system 210 and the server system 1000.

The example client system 1010 and server system 1000 could correspondto client system 202 and server system 204 as shown in FIG. 2. That is,the hardware elements described in FIG. 10 could be used to implementthe various software components and actions shown and described hereinwith reference to FIG. 2 etc. For example, the client system 1010 couldinclude at least one processor CPU 1031, at least one memory 1032, atleast one input/output device I/O 1033, and a component for generatingand displaying a user interface UI 1034. The I/O device 1033 can be allencompassing and could include a communication device, such as atransceiver for sending and receiving data (e.g., a wirelesstransceiver, a wired transceiver). I/O device 1033 could also include aninterface for connecting a non-transitory computer readable storagemedium to the client system 1010 to send and receive data.

It should be appreciated that the combination of elements in clientsystem 1010 could be used to implement the example web browserapplication 214 shown in FIG. 2. For example, the memory 1032 could loadthe files associated with the application (e.g., HTML, XML, JavaScriptfiles) and the CPU 1031 could be used to operate the rendering module,networking module, and JavaScript module discussed above to generate theapplication. Likewise, the I/O device 1033 could be utilized by thenetworking module to fetch the various elements comprising the SPA fromthe server system 1000.

Server system 1000 also comprises various hardware components used toimplement the software elements for server system 204 as shown in FIG.2. For example, server system 1000 could also include hardwarecomponents of at least one processor CPU 1021, at least one memory 1022,and at least one input/output device I/O 1023. The I/O device 1023 canbe all encompassing and could include a communication device, such as atransceiver for sending and receiving data (e.g., a wirelesstransceiver, a wired transceiver). I/O device 1023 could also include aninterface for connecting a non-transitory computer readable storagemedium to the server system 1000 to send and receive data. In oneexample embodiment, I/O device 1033 of the client system can performcommunication via the network with I/O 1023 of the server system.

Similar to client system 1010, the server system 1000 could implementthe components for generating the application. For example, the memory1022 could be used to store the information in database 220 as well asthe components and files utilized by web server 216 and applicationserver 218. The CPU 1021 could be used in executing the softwarenecessary to generate the respective modules that are requested by andtransmitted to the client system 1010. For example, CPU 1021 could beused to generate the necessary modules created by application server218. Likewise, I/O device 1023 can be used by the web server 216 totransmit the different application elements to the client system 1010.Of course, these examples are non-limiting and the system envisionsutilizing the hardware elements in a variety of aspects.

In the examples described herein, for purposes of explanation andnon-limitation, specific details are set forth, such as particularnodes, functional entities, techniques, protocols, standards, etc. inorder to provide an understanding of the described technology. It willbe apparent to one skilled in the art that other embodiments may bepracticed apart from the specific details described below. In otherinstances, detailed descriptions of well-known methods, devices,techniques, etc. are omitted so as not to obscure the description withunnecessary detail. Individual function blocks are shown in the figures.Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the functions of thoseblocks may be implemented using individual hardware circuits, usingsoftware programs and data in conjunction with a suitably programmedmicroprocessor or general purpose computer, using applications specificintegrated circuitry (ASIC), and/or using one or more digital signalprocessors (DSPs). The software program instructions and data may bestored on computer-readable storage medium and when the instructions areexecuted by a computer or other suitable processor control, the computeror processor performs the functions. Although databases may be depictedas tables below, other formats (including relational databases,object-based models, and/or distributed databases) may be used to storeand manipulate data.

Although process steps, algorithms or the like may be described orclaimed in a particular sequential order, such processes may beconfigured to work in different orders. In other words, any sequence ororder of steps that may be explicitly described or claimed does notnecessarily indicate a requirement that the steps be performed in thatorder. The steps of processes described herein may be performed in anyorder possible. Further, some steps may be performed simultaneouslydespite being described or implied as occurring non-simultaneously(e.g., because one step is described after the other step). Moreover,the illustration of a process by its depiction in a drawing does notimply that the illustrated process is exclusive of other variations andmodifications thereto, does not imply that the illustrated process orany of its steps are necessary to the technology, and does not implythat the illustrated process is preferred.

Various forms of computer readable media/transmissions may be involvedin carrying data (e.g., sequences of instructions) to a processor. Forexample, data may be (i) delivered from a memory to a processor; (ii)carried over any type of transmission medium (e.g., wire, wireless,optical, etc.); (iii) formatted and/or transmitted according to numerousformats, standards or protocols, such as Ethernet (or IEEE 802.3), ATP,Bluetooth, and TCP/IP, TDMA, CDMA, 3G, etc.; and/or (iv) encrypted toensure privacy or prevent fraud in any of a variety of ways well knownin the art. As used in this document, the term “non-transitory computerreadable storage medium” includes a register, a cache memory, a ROM, asemiconductor memory device (such as a D-RAM, S-RAM, or other RAM), amagnetic medium such as a flash memory, a hard disk, a magneto-opticalmedium, an optical medium such as a CD-ROM, a DVD, or Blu-Ray Disc, orother type of device for non-transitory electronic data storage. Theterm “processing system” as used in this document means at least one ofa CPU, GPU, ASIC, FPGA or other hardware circuit for executinginstructions, such as, for example, the software programs comprising theabove described web application.

When it is described in this document that an action “may,” “can,” or“could” be performed, that a feature or component “may,” “can,” or“could” be included in or is applicable to a given context, that a givenitem “may,” “can,” or “could” possess a given attribute, or whenever anysimilar phrase involving the term “may,” “can,” or “could” is used, itshould be understood that the given action, feature, component,attribute, etc. is present in at least one embodiment, though is notnecessarily present in all embodiments.

While the technology has been described in relation to AngularJS, thisis done for ease of description; it is to be understood that thetechnology described in this document is applicable in the context ofother SPA technologies, other web technologies, and/or any othersoftware technology.

While the technology has been described in connection with what ispresently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment,it is to be understood that the technology is not to be limited to thedisclosed embodiment, but on the contrary, is intended to cover variousmodifications and equivalent arrangements.

1. A system comprising: a client device including a first processingsystem having at least one processor, a display device and a networkcommunication interface, the first processing system being configured toperform operations comprising: transmitting a plurality of data requestsvia the network communication interface, each data request including aretry number and requesting data for one or more widgets of a pluralityof widgets displayable in a user interface of a web application; and aserver device including a second processing system having at least oneprocessor and a memory including a cache, the second processing systembeing configured to perform operations comprising: configuring the cacheto store, for each of a plurality of users, data for the plurality ofwidgets; receiving the plurality of data requests from the clientdevice, the plurality of data requests each with an included respectiveretry number; initiating an asynchronous refresh of a portion of thecache in response to a first respective retry number below apreconfigured threshold, and initiating a synchronous refresh of theportion of the cache in response to a second retry number equal to orhigher than the preconfigured threshold; and transmitting, to the clientdevice, at least a first response to the data request in associationwith the initiated synchronous refresh or the asynchronous request;wherein the first processing system of the client device is configuredto perform further operations comprising: displaying the user interfaceon the display device using at least a first set of data received withthe first response from the server device in response to the pluralityof data requests.
 2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the secondprocessing system is configured to perform further operationscomprising: responsive to a first data request of the plurality of datarequests, initiating a refresh of the cache for one or more of theplurality of widgets, when initiating the refresh, setting at least oneflag indicating a status of data for a widget in the cache; and inresponse to receiving a second data request having a retry numbercorresponding to a predetermined retry number, (1) if the at least oneflag is not set, initiate the refresh of the cache and set the at leastone flag; and (2) if the at least one flag is set, return data from thecache to the client device.
 3. The system according to claim 1, whereinthe first processing system is configured to perform further operationscomprising: storing a respective update timer for each of the pluralityof widgets; monitoring the respective update timer; and when an updateof a widget comes due, requesting the update.
 4. The system according toclaim 1, wherein the second processing system is further configured to:responsive to receiving a first data request of the plurality of datarequests, transmit the first set of data from the cache to the clientdevice in the first response before refreshing the cache, and transmit asecond set of data from the cache in a second response after the cacheis refreshed; and wherein the first processing system is furtherconfigured to: overwrite using the second set of data received with thesecond response, for one or more of the plurality of widgets,information previously displayed using the first set of data receivedfrom the server in response to the plurality of requests, wherein thefirst set of data is received before the second set of data.
 5. Thesystem according to claim 1, wherein the first processing system isconfigured to perform the transmitting the plurality of data requests inresponse to a user request to display the user interface.
 6. The systemaccording to claim 5, wherein the first processing system is configuredto launch a client-side of the web application on the client device inresponse to the user request.
 7. The system according to claim 6,wherein the first processing system is further configured to execute theclient-side of the web application in a browser.
 8. The system accordingto claim 1, wherein the first processing system is configured to performfurther operations comprising repeatedly transmitting data requests forat least one of the plurality of widgets for which last returned data isfrom the cache before the cache is updated for the at least one of theplurality of widgets.
 9. The system according to claim 8, wherein thesecond processing system is configured to perform further operationscomprising: in response to receiving a data request from the clientdevice, determining whether a number of repeated data requests exceedsthe preconfigured threshold; when the repeated data requests exceeds thethreshold, directly accessing a data source to obtain data; andreturning the obtained data to the client device.
 10. The systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the user interface includes a dashboardhaving the plurality of widgets arranged thereon.
 11. The systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the first processing system is configuredto perform further operations comprising: monitoring cache expirationtimes for the plurality of widgets arranged on the user interface; basedupon the monitoring, determining an expiration of cached data for afirst one of the plurality of widgets; and causing a refresh of data inthe cache for the first one of the plurality of widgets.
 13. A serverdevice comprising: a memory including a cache; a processing systemhaving at least one processor, the processing system being configured toperform operations comprising: configuring the cache to store, for eachof a plurality of users, data for a plurality of widgets that aredisplayable on a user interface provided by a web application;receiving, from the user interface of a client device a plurality ofdata requests each with an included retry number; initiating anasynchronous refresh of a portion of the cache in response to a firstrespective retry number below a preconfigured threshold, and initiatinga synchronous refresh of the portion of the cache in response to asecond retry number equal to or higher than the preconfigured threshold;and transmitting, to the client device, at least a first response to thedata request in association with the initiated synchronous refresh orthe asynchronous request.
 14. The server device according to claim 13,wherein the processing system is further configured to initiate anasynchronous refresh of the cache as the first action in response toreceiving a data request with a first retry number, and to initiate asynchronous refresh of the cache as the second action in response toreceiving a data request with a second retry number, the first andsecond retry numbers being different.
 15. A method performed by one ormore processors of a server device, the method comprising: configuring acache to store in a memory accessible to the server device, for each ofa plurality of users, data for a plurality of widgets that aredisplayable on a user interface provided by a web application; receivingvia a network interface of the server device, from the user interface ofa client device a plurality of data requests each with an included retrynumber; initiating an asynchronous refresh of a portion of the cache inresponse to a first respective retry number below a preconfiguredthreshold, and initiating a synchronous refresh of the portion of thecache in response to a second retry number equal to or higher than thepreconfigured threshold; and transmitting via the network interface ofthe server device, to the client device, at least a first response tothe data request in association with the initiated synchronous refreshor the asynchronous request.
 16. The method according to claim 15,further comprising: responsive to a first data request of the pluralityof data requests, initiating a refresh of the cache for one or more ofthe plurality of widgets, when initiating the refresh, setting at leastone flag indicating a status of data for a widget in the cache; inresponse to receiving a second data request having a retry numbercorresponding to a predetermined retry number, (1) if the at least oneflag is not set, initiate the refresh of the cache and set the at leastone flag; and (2) if the at least one flag is set, return data from thecache to the client device.
 17. The method according to claim 15,further comprising initiating the asynchronous refresh of the cache as afirst action in response to receiving a data request with a first retrynumber, and initiating the synchronous refresh of the cache as a secondaction in response to receiving a data request with a second retrynumber, the first and second retry numbers being different.
 18. Anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructionsthat, when executed by a processor of a server device, causes the serverdevice to perform operations comprising: configuring a cache to store ina memory accessible to the server device, for each of a plurality ofusers, data for a plurality of widgets that are displayable on a userinterface provided by a web application; receiving, from the userinterface of a client device a plurality of data requests each with anincluded retry number; initiating an asynchronous refresh of a portionof the cache in response to a first respective retry number below apreconfigured threshold, and initiating a synchronous refresh of theportion of the cache in response to a second retry number equal to orhigher than the preconfigured threshold; and transmitting, to the clientdevice, at least a first response to the data request in associationwith the initiated synchronous refresh or the asynchronous request.